Tony Flannery / Twitter
CV NEWS FEED // A former Redemptorist priest who was suspended from public ministry for advocating controversial views is expected to praise Pope Francis at an upcoming speaking event in Galway.
According to a report from the Irish Independent, Tony Flannery, 77, “plans to question the survival of the Roman Catholic Church” and “pay tribute to Pope Francis for ‘freeing up discussion.’”
“If we take the traditional indications of the health of the faith as measured by the Catholic Church,” said Flannery, “then all the signs are that it is in serious trouble, and that the faith is in the terminal stage of ill health.”
He continued:
We are living in a really interesting time in the [Catholic] church since the arrival of the papacy of Francis. Even in the 11 years since his appointment he has brought about a great deal of change.
The ‘pre-Francis’ church had adopted the position that it had the full truth, and that it had nothing to learn from the world.
Francis, on the other hand, realised that in order for the church to be relevant, it must engage with modern life, and be part of the debate about the future of the world and of people.
The suspended priest also noted the rapid decline of Church attendance in Ireland, along with its national shortage of priests.
The Vatican suspended Flannery from public ministry in 2012 “for publicly expressing support for women’s ordination and same-sex marriage, and for expressing more liberal views on homosexuality.”
The event will take place at a hotel in Galway on March 27 since Flannery is prohibited from speaking on Church property.
